Meet the Trails & Vistas Team

Illustration of rock silhouettes

Board of Directors and Advisors

All personnel sorted alphabetically by first name

Ashley Banovich

Board Member

Board of Directors

Ashley Banovich graduated from San Diego State University with Political Science and Environmental Studies degrees. Thirty years ago, she came to Tahoe like many others "just for one winter" and never left. Growing up in West Marin County she would only settle for another area filled with beauty and nature in its original form to call home. Starting her own successful business here, enabled her to do just that. Her passions are hiking, camping, traveling the world, and being a part of her two adult children's lives. She has served on several boards, committees and fundraising campaigns to support different aspects of her community. She’s enjoyed being involved in every Trails & Vistas Art Hike since they began in 2004, and will continue to do so.

Barb Wilkinson

Board Member

Board of Directors

Barb Wilkinson is a longtime Truckee resident. She and her family moved from the East coast in 1999, falling in love with the Truckee’s community vibe and the low-key people. She has held numerous roles within the community, serving as the Executive Director of the KidZone Museum from 2001-2004, board member for the Excellence in Education Foundation, board member and Chair of Public Image for Rotary Club of Truckee, and the Tahoe Sierra Board of Realtors Multiple Listing Service. She has served as a Board member of Trails & Vistas in the past and is thrilled to be more thoroughly involved once again. Barb loves bicycling, pickleball, travel and live music.

Christina Stoever Young

Advisor

Advisor

A native Nevadan with deep roots in both Nevada and Northern California, Christina Stoever Young is the owner of Sunshine Tahoe and is active within her community-at-large in dozens of ways. A marketer by profession, an environmentalist at heart and a parent by divine design, Christina puts her heart, expertise and full energy into every cause she carefully chooses to support. Christina is the founder of Truckee’s Historical Haunted Tour. After five wildly successful years, the Historical Haunted tour was gifted to the nonprofit Trails & Vistas in 2015. Christina remains a dedicated enthusiast of Trails & Vistas and an advisor to the board of directors.

Dan Joseph

Board Member

Board of Directors

Dan Joseph is a fine woodworker, furniture and cabinet builder, and long time Truckee Tahoe resident, now living in Paradise, CA. Dan serves on the board of the Paradise Community Guilds. He is an experienced trail guide on Trails & Vistas’ Art Hikes and storytelling guide at our signature fundraiser, Truckee Historical Haunted Tour. He’s an appreciator of live music, and enjoys hiking and kayaking on lakes in the Sierra Nevada. Dan supports our Artistic Director and performing artists at annual events.

Elizabeth Archer

Advisor

Advisor

Elizabeth Archer, Founding Artistic Director of InnerRhythms Dance, is a dancer and choreographer. Elizabeth, a classical ballet teacher in Truckee for over two decades, has been a close collaborator and Community Partner of Trails & Vistas since its inception in 2004. Elizabeth partners with Nancy Lopez to support Nancy’s role as Artistic Director for Art Hikes. Elizabeth collaborates with InnerRhythms’ dance instructors and performing dancers at Trails & Vistas’ Art Hikes and Community Workshops. She currently serves as an advisor to the board of Trails & Vistas.

Heather Boger

Board Member

Board of Directors

Heather Boger lives in Truckee and is passionate about Trails & Vistas volunteer engagement and coordination. She brings project management and leadership skills from her experience in tech and is an enthusiastic ambassador of the organization, sharing our art and cultural programs with anyone she comes into contact with. Heather works as a California commissioned notary and signing agent and owns Truckee-based Martis Valley Mobile Notary. When not at work, she enjoys spending time with friends on the trails, cheering for the LSU Fighting Tigers, experiencing as much live music as she can, and being “all things Mom” to her two sons and goldendoodle, Gumbo. Her smile is contagious, and her plans and dreams land on a long runway.

Jean Founier

Board Member

Board of Directors

In addition to being a founding member of Trails & Vistas board of directors, Jean Fournier is a performing poet and expressive artist inspired by our natural surroundings. With gratitude for time spent in nature throughout her life, she is passionate about furthering the mission of Trails & Vistas. As an educator known for integrating arts in her teaching for nearly four decades, she particularly enjoys Trails & Vistas program called The Dreaming Tree field trips, where she inspires hundreds of children to create poetry along the trail. She’s lived in the Donner Summit-Truckee area since 1986 and is thankful for any time spent outdoors whether hiking, writing, skiing, or simply appreciating the beauty found in nature. Jean values the healing power of the arts and of spending time outside.

Katrina Johnson

Board Member

Board of Directors

Originally from a rural Northern California town, Katrina Johnson grew up immersed in the outdoors and was drawn to the Truckee community and way of life from her first childhood visit. With a degree in Recreation from CSU Chico, she moved to Florida, where she realized her love for events, acting, community and a craving for nature while working at Disney World. She eventually landed back “home” in Truckee and has worked in the local nonprofit sector for over ten years. Before joining the board in 2024, she volunteered as an actor for the Historical Haunted Tour for many years and fell in love with Trails & Vistas. Community and meaningful work are pillars for Katrina as her full-time job is the Fundraising and Special Event Coordinator for the Humane Society of Truckee-Tahoe. She also serves as the Trails & Vistas Social Media Specialist. In her free time, you can find her volunteering, acting, painting or adventuring with her fiance Gary and her dogs in the great outdoors.

Lorna Denton

Board Member

Board of Directors

Lorna Denton received her Bachelor of Arts in Textiles/Fashion at West Surrey college of Art and Design, Farnham, Surrey, and her Postgraduate Certificate in Education, Art and Design from Middlesex University, London Middlesex. In addition to teaching Art at Design at St. Luke’s C.E. School in Southsea, Hampshire, and working as head of the Art department at Oakmead College of Technology, Bournemouth, Dorset, she’s been a Teaching Artist at the nonprofit, Arts for All in Reno, Nevada since 2011. Lorna has designed and fabricated large scale site-specific Art installations created with textile and fiber-arts for Trails & Vistas Art Hikes since 2011. At the Dreaming Tree Field Trips she teaches students to create an individual artwork on natural wood pieces, which become a symbol of class community hung in their classroom and referenced throughout their school year. Lorna lives in Reno, Nevada.

Maria Jones

Board Member

Board of Directors

Maria Jones moved to the Tahoe area after graduating from San Francisco State University with a degree in Outdoor Recreation, interning in Environmental Education. Her experience in outdoor leadership includes years of working with Ropes Courses, which provide opportunities for participants’ self discovery as well as group growth. Maria facilitates team building programs where every team member’s ideas, abilities and talents are used in different creative challenges. She incorporates these experiences within The Dreaming Tree field trips and while guiding on Art Hikes. Maria’s principal contribution to Trails & Vistas is leading the Historical Haunted Tour committee, Trails & Vistas’ signature fundraiser. Maria's motivation for living in the mountains is skiing. She and her husband Randy moved to Truckee in 1994 where they shared their passion for skiing with their children, Chelsea and Dylan.

Patty Kelly

Board Member

Board of Directors

Calling Tahoe Donner her home since 1988, Patty Kelley has been in the Truckee area since 1978. The main attraction to this area for Patty has always been the outdoors and what better place to settle down and raise a family than in Truckee? “I was first introduced to Trails & Vistas by a friend, to volunteer as a guide. On my first Art Hike tour, the exhilaration and awe that I felt was inexplicable and the feeling and energy remains to this day! To be able to connect community members to the arts and nature has been great fun.” You can also find Patty in her role as a storytelling guide in Trails & Vistas’ Historical Haunted Tour held in October. Patty currently serves as Board Treasurer.

Polly Triplat

Board Member

Board of Directors

Polly Triplat is a well-being facilitator who has shared her healing practices with the Truckee Tahoe community for over 30 years. Polly’s business Soulwise Healing Arts, is an alchemy of hands on healing practices, embodiment and dance facilitation, soulful creativity and art, nature based rites of passage and shamanic journey work. Polly has served many roles at Trails & Vistas over the years, from facilitating community workshops to being a trail guide for Art Hikes, and a guide for Trails & Vistas Fundraiser, Truckee’s Historical Haunted Tour.

Romina Branje

Latine Community Outreach Advisor

Advisor

Raised on the big Island of Chiloe in Southern Chile, artist Romina Branje moved to America and has lived in the Lake Tahoe area for over twenty years. She brings to life local animals and flowers through her vibrant paintings. Romina is deeply involved with the Truckee community, working with children, and helping others. Her work with the Latinx Outreach Program for the Kidzone Museum in Truckee was awarded a National Promising Practice Award. She currently works for Tahoe Truckee Unified School District. Branje is 2022 recipient of Excellence in Education’s Linda Brown Star Award for her work in the school district. Romina exhibits her watercolor artwork in galleries in Truckee and Kings Beach. She continues to bridge communities together through the Arts, serving as Latinx Community Outreach Advisor for Trails & Vistas, and teaching in Spanish at Trails & Vistas’ bilingual Community Building Art Workshops.

Sonya Koster

Board Member

Board of Directors

Sonya is proud to call Tahoe/Truckee home for the past 24 years because it has been the best playground for raising her three girls. Whether skiing, ice skating, hiking, backpacking, swimming, or bicycling, it’s all nearby. After graduating from Cal State University Hayward and leaving the workforce to become a mom, she’s dedicated time to volunteering in various capacities to better our community. These include being a hiking guide for the Donner Party Hike and Trails & Vistas Art Hikes, Girl Scout Leader and Board Member, Campaign Manager, PTO President, and a Truckee Optimist volunteer. Now that she and her husband are empty nesters, she delights in working at one of Truckee’s favorite art galleries, Riverside Studios, and enjoying outdoor sports, living her Tahoe/Truckee life to the fullest. Sonya currently serves as Trails & Vistas’ Board Secretary.

Illustration of rock silhouettes

Executive Staff

All personnel sorted alphabetically by first name

Nancy Lopez

Founder and Artistic Director

Executive Staff

Trails & Vistas' Founder and Artistic Director, Nancy Tieken Lopez, received her Master of Fine Arts from San Jose State University in 1997 with an emphasis in sculpture. Her original art hike, Spring Streams, was held at Alum Rock Park in San Jose, California. Her MFA thesis project of Spring Streams featured site-specific performance installation and creativity utilizing the landscape as the palette. Lopez is a multi-disciplinary artist: Sculptor, Painter, and Performance Installation Artist. Each year, Lopez creates collaborations with local arts and environmental nonprofits, and over forty independent artists to create Trails & Vistas Art Hikes featuring the trails of the Sierra Nevada. In addition, she facilitates community art education projects with local youth and Community Building Art Workshops for people of all ages. Nancy Tieken Lopez respectfully acknowledges that she works and lives on unceded land of the Washoe.

Veronica Derrick

Executive Director

Executive Staff

Coming Soon.

Community Outreach

Taking kids outdoors to create, discover, and learn with the Dreaming Tree Field Trips.
Community art and dance workshops

Learn More

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SUPPORT OUR CAUSE

Your Generous Support Goes a Long Way

Trails & Vistas is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. (26-4300208)
By donating to Trails & Vistas you're supporting the arts and helping to bring immersive
experiences in creativity for local students and communities.

We respectfully acknowledge that we walk on the unceded land of the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California.
Trails & Vistas strives to create a more sustainable and healthy world for all people across race, class, gender, geography, and other differences.

All materials copyright of Trails & Vistas Inc. ©2004-2024. Use of any materials and photographs other than Trails & Vistas event promotion require written approval by the Executive Director Nancy Lopez at info@trailsandvistas.org For all press inquiries contact: Nancy Tieken Lopez, Founder and Artistic Director

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